The Kingsroad
En route to Vaes Dothrak with Khal Drogo's khalasar, Jorah Mormont reveals to Viserys Targaryen that he was exiled for selling poachers into slavery.
Ned Stark and his daughters prepare to journey to the capital with King Robert Baratheon, while Jon Snow leaves to join his uncle Benjen in the Night's Watch, accompanied by Tyrion.
As they embark for King's Landing, Robert tells Ned of Daenerys Targaryen's marriage to Khal Drogo and the possibility of Viserys raising a Dothraki army to overthrow him.
Confiding with her son Robb, Maester Luwin, Master-at-Arms Ser Rodrik Cassel, and the Starks' ward Theon Greyjoy, Catelyn decides to go to King's Landing to warn Ned.
)[1][2] While the events in this episode mostly follow the book, differences in the screen adaptation include not introducing the council's delegation with Ser Barristan and Lord Renly and the conversation between Robert and Eddard taking place during breakfast instead of on horseback.
[1] This episode marks the first appearance of regular guest star Roxanne McKee, best known for her role of Louise Summers in the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks.
To stand in for the extinct species, the production team considered using real wolves, but the UK safety laws and close work with child actors made this impractical.
[7] The dog that portrayed Lady, Zanni, was adopted after the season wrapped by the family of Sophie Turner, the actress playing the direwolf's owner, Sansa Stark.
The website's critical consensus reads, "'The Kingsroad' brings surprising new developments for characters undergoing change while pushing the various plots forward at an effective pace.
[12] Matt Fowler, who reviewed the episode for IGN, gave it a score of 8/10, and maintained that it was still a solid effort that focused on shifting all the main characters out of their comfort zones.
"[16] At Cultural Learnings, Myles McNutt admitted that having to move all pieces into place made the episode resemble a travelogue, but he considered the lack of cohesion to be very purposeful since it helped to emphasize the splitting of the Stark family and the different motivations and destinies that awaited the protagonists.
